Roman Green Glass Bead Necklace String

With dimple to the underside, squat square body and wide everted rim. 34.7 grams, 49 mm



From an important London collection of glass, 1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

The object is certainly Late Roman in shape, although similar typologies did also exist in early Islamic glasswork. The bottle was probably blown into a flat mould to produce the ribs, then expanded and tooled to form the body.

Mount or harness fitting in the form of a vine leaf displaying simple stylised detailing to the front face, together with a raised perforated lug and scooped plaque above; suspension loop to the reverse. 55.5 grams, 58 mm



Found Cambridgeshire, UK, in the 1990s.

Sheet-bronze two-part pyxis with carinated sidewall to the base, lid with reserved octofoil on a pounced field, concentric pointillé rings; working hinge mechanism. 64 grams, 86 mm



Acquired in the 1990s. Ex Abelita family collection. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Although pyxides were originally made of wood, as their name suggests, the term soon came to refer, in the Graeco-Roman world, to round containers used for both medicinal and domestic purposes. From the time of the Achaeans to the end of the Roman Empire, we find pyxides made of horn, ivory, bronze, silver, and gold. Women used them to store their ointments, makeup, and toiletries. A pyxis used for medical purposes was called a loculus, while the name pyxidicula designated a container for eye drops, and a tripuxium was a pyxis containing extracts from three different containers.